Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 60W Equivalent LED Smart Bulb Starter Kit (3 A19 Bulbs and 1 Hub Compatible with Amazon Alexa Apple HomeKit and Google Assistant), (Model: 464479)

I've tried a variety of automated light bulbs and these are the best. They offer ease of setup, the most deeply saturated variety of colors, the best software, the widest variety of third-party software, and they work beautifully with Alexa. On the other hand, they're the most expensive light bulbs I've encountered. My journey with Philips Hue began with this three-bulb starter kit, which included the Hue Bridge. The whole thing was an absolute breeze to set up, where I plugged the bridge into my router and followed the software directions. I installed two of the bulbs in a sconce I have in my office that is reminiscent of Roman ruins of Ionic columns. As you can see by my photos, there's quite a variety of effects you can choose, particularly with a pair of them -- one of these light bulbs is pointing up and the other one pointing down. My only complaint besides their excessive expense is the fact that when you place a lightbulb in a fixture, the switches that previously controlled that fixture are suddenly superfluous. I partly solved that problem with one of Phillips's smart dimmer stitches, which allows the uninitiated to my abode to turn these lights on and off in the traditional way. However, that switch doesn't let you control the spectacular color spectrum of which these lights are capable. Overall, I'm impressed with the color range and quality of these lights, and I ended up adding another to my collection. I only wish that other companies (I'm looking at you, Lutron, which just discontinued its only Hue-compatible switch) would simplify their compatibility with these remarkable lights. Alas, we'll have to wait until the hyper-competitive "smart home" market shakes out and someone creates an easy-to-use control system that rules them all. Even without that, these Phillips Hue bulbs are a worthy addition to my automated lighting system.

During Prime Day I saw the Hue Gen 3 starter kit was $139 so it was a no brainer to try it out. I was extremely excited to receive it, so when it arrived I opened the package and saw this: a broken bulb. I was immediately let down and kinda upset. So, I hopped on Amazons chat help line figuring I'd have to send it back. Nope, didn't have to send it back! Instead, a replacement set was overnighted free of charge and all I had to do was send back the two leftover bulbs, plus the rest of the replacement kit. Wow! I was stunned and almost speechless at the stellar customer service. Thank you Amazon! As far as the lights themselves? Near perfect. The automation is a nice feature and the color range is awesome. At the brightest white which is at 6500K I have to turn them down to 80 percent because they are so bright. The colors are a bit dimmer but that's to be expected. I imagine they will get better as new generations arrive but if anyone is thinking about purchasing these lights right now don't hesitate. Before I forget, watch some YouTube videos on how to set them up. The instructions are pretty useless so YouTube is your friend. Also, IFTTT (If This Then That) is a great applet program that sets up some neat light scenarios. Hue Labs is another useful website that allows more automation. For instance, I have 2 white only Hue bulbs in my patio light fixture set to turn on from dusk until dawn. That was set up through Hue Labs. I hope this was helpful and feel free to ask any questions and I will try to answer them!

I got these for my birthday last year in October, these lights are amazing, I’m going to go through the cons and then the pros. So, they advertise that you can acces the lights outside your house but I find this to not be true it like won’t connect which makes sense considering that the lights connect to the internet which leads me to my other con, you want to go home and just turn on your lights instantly but not all the time but sometimes it will take a while for your phone and the lights and the internet to connect together in order to go to the app and mess with the option of lighting. Sometimes they won’t connect to the internet and this hadn’t happened to me recently more when I first got them but I haven’t had a connection problem on a while, if it does though just reset the bridge and you’ll be fine. The pros, omg when I look back at my old lighting situation I cringe so hard, once you get these lights in your room or specified area, and mess with the settings you will never want to go back to the old light set up. You can make your own settings of neutrals or colors like the one in the photo I provided. I would recommend reading other reviews and watching other vids to see all of the benefits of the app and the lights. I put one in my living room and two in my room, the settings like spring blossom or costom settings are better with two or more lights because you have a bigger area to play and put one color on one side and one on the other, eventually I might want to get more lamps in my room to get more lights to costomize it even more but two is plenty for all the settings. The last bit of information I have to share is that if you want to put colorful lights on, in order to make them look the most vibrant is to put them on at night so no natural lighting is leaking through and weakening the color. I would highley reccomend these lights to anyone looking to spice up their lighting.

In a 1 BR/1 BA apartment, 3 light bulbs and a hub is good so I bought 2 more bulbs and it made things better. The color bulbs have more range in the spectrum for bright and dim. The white bulb when set to dim (10%) is not as dim (10%) as the color bulb. A smart switch and a motion/light sensor were a great addition. I did have 1 problem which took me a bit to figure out, but it's basically the solution to any computer problem. Reboot LoL. The problem was that the white bulbs I bought were turning on automatically at 1030PM EST. When you put your baby to sleep at 10 having the lights come on by itself 30 minutes later is not good. Scenes work great when tied to the motion sensor because you need the hallway dim and the kitchen bright to heat up a bottle of milk and not look for your phone to pick settings and fully wake up the baby and mom. Other than the light turning on by itself, it's been a year and they still work great.

First, they work. And they work really well. I mean almost life-changing, best purchase well. We have the Amazon Alexa home situation and the lights perform and integrate wonderfully. We still have wemo switches, but they're basically gathering dust now. I had so many problems with the wemo switches getting them to sync and what not. I would have to resync all three at least 3x a year. The Phillips Hue... plugged it in, turned it on, put the lights in their sockets and everything just worked. I do have a price point limit though. Before you run to buy these, remember, you can buy regular light bulbs for less than $5. Our electric company mails us two to three lightbulbs a year. As I write this review, a single Hue bulb is $50. It changes color, dims/brightens, turns on when my phone connects to the home wifi and more. So these are more than just an average lightbulb. I got them on Prime day for $139. At that price these are amazing and perfect. At $199, I can get off my lazy ass and turn off a light switch myself. I also wouldn't spend $50 on the lightbulbs by themselves. I've seen them come down in price to between $30 and $40. Next time they do, I'll pick up a few more.

I bought these on a whim, not really knowing what to expect or how I'd actually put the system to use in my house, but it was a good deal on Prime day, so I pulled the trigger. (Knowing good and well my wife was going to hate it). Setup is as easy as screwing in a light bulb & pushing a button. I haven't had any issues pairing bulbs to my hub or things not showing up in the mobile app (on android or iOS). The colored-light aspect of these is a little gimmicky, but I suspect if you know what you're doing with colored lights, you could do special things with these. The real magic in these for me is the ability to control the brightness and warmth - they're great for having some light in my living room at night while watching TV & for having some light in the morning while waking up without being blinded. I'm not sure if the white+ambience-only lights can match the range of warm light the Color Ambience bulbs provide, but I'll be picking up a few of those next to give them a try. This is a fantastic product an great starter kit, well worth the cost at full price if you can afford it.

Good heavens are these awesome. Certainly a luxury item since the price point remains pretty high, but it is so nifty to be able to change the colour of my lights on a whim. I put these bulbs in my basement rec room area and have different settings for watching TV, playing games, and working out. They are easy to control through either my Echo, Echo Dot, or the Hue app. There are also numerous third party apps which I have not explored yet. For me, the best part of the HUE system is its integration with IFTTT which allows me to set up macros to turn lights on and off at specified times. I will never come home to a dark house again!

Hue is a system that gets more fun as you explore it. There are apps that do all sorts of extra functions with it, and it is nice to be able to set even just the white color to fit your purpose (some are good for reading, some are more soothing, etc). The colors are just fun, and add a little flair to the room when you want it. It is set up for me with homekit, and I can do basic adjustments to the lights from anywhere. There are even programs that will have your lights behave in more people-like patterns so it looks like someone is home. The automation landscape is getting bigger quickly, and this is a fun addition.